MINI REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1674752
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Novel Resistance Mechanisms in Cancer Treatments through High-Throughput Screening and Multi-Omics AnalysisView all 3 articles
Fatty Acid Synthase in Chemoresistance: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities
Provisionally accepted
- Guangzhou Vocational University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China
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Chemoresistance has been a major obstacle to the efficient treatment of cancer. Recently, targeting lipid metabolism has gained significant attention because of its roles not only in promoting cancer progression but also in inducing chemotherapy resistance. Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is the sole enzyme that is in charge of catalyzing the synthesis of palmitate, a long-chain lipid that is essential for membrane construction and post-translational modification in cell biology. Both FAS and its product, palmitate, have been validated as critical players in mediating or causing chemoresistance in cancers, although the details remain elusive, requiring further basic studies. In this mini-review, we provide a brief and concise overview of the basic research on FAS in cancer and its mechanisms of inducing chemoresistance. More importantly, we summarize and critically discuss the progress of small-molecule FAS inhibitors, especially those in clinical trials. While by far, several FAS inhibitors, including denifanstat and omeprazole, have demonstrated beneficial effects in clinical trials, no candidate has been approved by the FDA. We concluded here that targeting FAS is a feasible strategy to overcome chemoresistance, although more interdisciplinary efforts are needed to identify a potent, specific, and bioavailable FAS inhibitor for clinical applications.
Keywords: chemoresistance, Lipid Metabolism, fatty acid synthase, Drug Discovery, Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities
Received: 28 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Zhang and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Li Huang, Guangzhou Vocational University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China
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